Depending on God in Depression | Psalm 42 | Pastor Josh Shaw | Lighthouse Church

10:51AM Feb 22, 2023

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depression

people

god

friends

life

church

midst

author

motorcycles

mischievous

struggle

feel

remind

trigger

jake

verse

revoke

gray

diagnosed

soul

Hey, this is Pastor Josh from Lighthouse church, I am so glad that you have chosen to watch a sermon video from our church. If you're a regular attender at Lighthouse, and you call lighthouse to your home, I just wanted to say that I love you that our elders and our leaders are so grateful that you're a part of our church family. And I hope that this sermon just really blesses you and encourages you today as you watch it, or as you listen to it as you're driving, or whatever it may be. But if you're someone who's not from the Colorado area, and you enjoy the content that we create on a weekly basis, first wanted to say thank you, thank you for being an encouragement to us. But I also wanted to just make two different comments, one, we love that you watch our footage online, but we really want to make sure that you have a local church home, that you can call family that you can be connected to, that you can be a part of, there is no good substitute at all, for the church, the body of Jesus Christ. And so please find a local church where you can get connected and loved and please, you know, enjoy this resources we have as a church here in Colorado, but please find a local church. And the second thing is that if you are someone who enjoys our content, perhaps you would consider giving to our church and generously donating so that we can continue creating great content for you and for our church. And so I hope you are blessed and encouraged by the word that you're about to hear from one of our elders or from one of my sermons, but be blessed by this video today. Thank you

where are you God

I am lost without you

can't shake this feeling

I am so angry I am so hurt

I need you now

please come to me

please, rescue me

where are you?

When I was a junior in high school. I had a very dear friend of mine. His name was Jake. And he was he was he was the closest friend I'd ever had in my life leading up to that moment. He he was part mischievous and yet also part caring. And he was amazing. The mischievous piece was maybe my favorite part because I am not part mischievous. I am all mischievous. And as a 17 year old kid didn't know Jesus didn't grow up in the church. None of you know I just I like my moral standard was basically like ground level, right? Like anything was free game. And Jake, because of his willingness to be a little mischievous was like my partner, right? He was like my Robin, but for back bad things like Batman and Robin, but like a negative version of it. Right? And this one time I remember we in 2005 there were these little mini motorcycles that like became super popular. They were kind of like the the what are they called the things that people would get on they'd like do these things like hoverboard surfboard things that blow up now. So you can't actually buy them like Amazon SES those because they were going in flames. Thank you. Chinese imports for that one. But in 2005, before that was the cool thing. There were many motorcycles were the thing. And these are they were like this big, but they were like, they were like a motorcycle. And and they went 35 miles an hour. Which if you think about it, that's fast. Like that's like, wow, they got some pretty good speed. And so Jake and I we bought them we bought them on eBay, and they got delivered and that's when people did eBay stuff. And so we didn't know if we were buying from a shady dealer, you know, who knows, right? But we wanted these motorcycles. They were 500 bucks each. We bought them and little did we know that one? They were illegal in Colorado. We did not know that, too, even if they were legal. The requirements to be able to drive them was that you needed a license and you need them registered. Neither none of those things that we knew, like when we bought them at all, we just thought this would be fun, a lot more fun than riding our bicycles, right? And so we got him. And so we were riding around and I just I just remember this one time, we were driving around and just like blitzing through our neighborhood. And all of a sudden, this cop shows up out of nowhere, this board cop, just like sitting in a neighborhood like waiting for kids, right? Like that's, you know, just like eating the sandwich or something and hanging it. All we hear is this boom. And I looked at Jake. And he looked at me, and there was a definite connection of let's go. And we were like, you just were on motorcycles were like, we could beat this guy. 35 mile an hour motorcycles, right. But we went on a chase with the cop following us all throughout the neighborhood. And the way that we kept the cops from busting us is we would deceive the cops. I don't recommend doing any of what I'm saying right now. But we would literally like be like, Oh, can we wave and be like, Hey, we're gonna pull over and, and we'd pull up into a driveway. And the cop would then be like, All right, and he'd get out of his car. And then we'd go for all and then we drive away literally, to the point where we finally got to the local park, and we went straight through the park to his house and then hidden his basement. Wonderful, guys, friends like that. That's, you know what I'm saying? Right? It's incredible. You know, he's funny, he was mischievous. He was incredible. And he was also incredibly caring. As a young man, I dated this one girl when I my junior year and she was not a healthy person. For me, we brought the worst out and each other and, and Jake, while we weren't running from the police had made it his basically, life's goal to make sure that I was safe, that I wouldn't make dumb decisions. He was like a big old, he was an older brother to me. And so one time, he actually found out that I was I had gone over to my girlfriend's house, even though we had broken up and, and he knew I was going over there to just basically plead with her to stay with me, and it was not going to be good. And so we actually came over to the house that she lived her house, then jumped in through the basement window, because we kept the front door locked. He broke into it grabbed me and said, This is not good for you. And then he pulled me out the window. Afterwards, he punched me in the face. And I was like, Whoa, we're taking this a little too far. Right? Like I was like, Oh, Jake, come on, man. Like that's the type of friend who's who's fun. Like he was everything that you would want. And you know, parents, you want a kid like this minus the police stuff like you want, you know, for your kid, someone like that. Love that guy, man. always smiling, always having a good time. What I didn't know is that every day that we were together, which was almost every single day, when I thought things were great. underneath the surface, Jake was actually fighting for his life. I had no idea. We were 17. I had no idea. Looking back, it all made sense to me. Every summer, we'd go out and we'd have we just be done. And it's like 105 degrees outside in Colorado. And it's hot and it's humid. And we're running around on our motorcycles driving around. He always wears sweater. And I just never really I was like, well, you want a sweater bro? Like it's not even good. Like it's not even stylish man. It's a black sweater. And I had no idea that he was hiding all the scars of his cuts. Never once wear a t shirt around me. I had no idea that every time we went to his house, when we would skip out on school, it would happen a lot. We'd be like, let's go to gym class. And then we just leave and go to his house. We'd go to play Playstation. And every time we got to his house, his parents both work. So they weren't home. He would grab the PlayStation from his bedroom. And he'd bring it into the living room. And I always thought that was so strange. Like, why don't we just play in your bedroom. And, and the reason why he was doing that was because on the desk in his bedroom, he had a pre written suicide note. And he kept it there because he never knew if he was ever going to take his life or not. But he wanted to make sure that everything that he wanted to say was there. I had no idea. March of that year, was an English class. And my teacher pulled me out of class and that was not uncommon for me. And I just thought what again, Mrs. Daniels, like, oh, pronouns are pointless, right? Like, she brings me out. And she said, Hey, we want to let you know that Jake killed himself. And back then, in the mid 2000s, they there's like no real protocol for something like this. And teachers, you know, there wasn't a lot of training in this. And so the teacher told me and then they said, we just want to let you know. So take a deep breath and go back into class and Was it. And his parents found him and his home. He didn't come to school that day. And as a 17 year old, I remember sitting back in English class, and everything went silent. And I felt I felt devastated. And I lost the friends and that mattered. But I like I mean, you're 17 There's a weird cognitive thing that happens, where you're not quite able to process emotions fully, like you almost pacify them. But what hurt the most is I had no idea that my friend was fighting a battle that I was unaware of. I had no idea that he that there was a piece of life that I loved, that he didn't know how to live in. And he felt like there was a war going on in him. Um, 17 million people every single year are diagnosed with depression in the United States. 17 million people every single year. Depression is a very broad category. But that does not include social anxiety that does not include bipolar disorder. That doesn't include postpartum depression, that doesn't include seasonal depression, that is just chronic depression. 17,000,005% of the entire United States population deals with seasonal depression twice a year, every single year, at the very tail end of fall into winter. And right around March of every single year, 5% of the entire population has a biological reaction to weather and debates on if it's worth living life. Women are twice as likely to be depressed than men. And the onset of depression, or at least the average onset of depression for anybody is right around 32 years old. Some people can be depressed earlier. And that's why there's an average right? Usually it starts somewhere between 18 years old or so when social psych social pressure comes in. There's dissonance in the family in the home and, and there's a lot of trauma that comes up. And then some some people are diagnosed later in life. But right around that 32 year old age range is right when people begin to realize what is actually happening and they actually get diagnosed with this. But the saddest thing about all of these statistics is that only 20% of every person who is diagnosed with this disease, only 20% of those people actually seek any sort of professional help. Think about that. A legitimate physiological disease illness, only 20% of people seek professional help.

Counselors, medical doctors treatment centers, 20%, which we now know because of sociological research is the reason why suicide rates are higher than they've ever been before. It's because people are getting untreated or they're being treated inappropriately, they're being given drugs that actually aren't helping them or they are helping but then there's massive side effects to that. That's the reason why alcohol addiction and drug addiction is at its highest. It's because people are trying to find ways to remedy the dissonance they feel in their life, and they don't have a solution. And culturally, depression is still a little bit of a taboo. And so they don't know where to go. 20% of people go on, or only 20% of people actually pursue any health. Depression is real friends. It's real. And what's so encouraging to me is that not only does the Bible talk about it, but the writers of the Bible actually experienced it. Like the writers of the Bible, in particular, the Psalms, struggled with depression, with anxiety, with this dissonant feeling of their brain and their soul that feels that war now the thing that's interesting is, is that they never really used the same language that we use, right because we have books that tell us how to describe things. But but they all felt that dark night of the soul that so many of us have felt. They all question in many ways why live Why fight? Why even believe in a God who seems to be so distant? Why is it worth it? They question those things. To me, friends, that is so encouraging. It's sad because I think many of you are Like what? The Bible talks about that. And it's like, Yeah, unfortunately, the church just doesn't. The Bible is full of examples of what I just described. And today in Psalm 42, we're going to be jumping into a story, a song, where the author is not only feeling depression, and it's both spiritual depression and physiological depression, we'll talk about the differences as we study it. But in the midst of this psalm, they actually take steps towards dependency on God, that doesn't fix the problem, but it's like a toolkit. The author actually gives us some things to have in our back pocket when things come up. And so I think it'd be really good when we jump into this, but I want you guys to be honest as we read this, because you may resonate with this passage more than you're willing to admit. So depression and our dependency on God. Let's begin reading in verse, or chapter 42, starting in verse one. Chapter 42, starting in verse one. You'll notice that there's this crying out that the author does As the deer pants for the streams of water will will, you can go back past that Ethan, go right to verse one. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, my God. Now, I want to stop there for just a moment if you have grown up in the church at all. That phrase that one little sentence has been completely misconstrued. Like that phrase, I bet you anything as I was reading that you have heard that before, right? Like in songs and and like in like Martel's coffee cups and all these things like As the deer pants for water my soul longs for, and we try to make it an emotive like a romantic statement on behalf of the author to God, right. The problem with that is that that is not the context of the rest of the psalm at all. When the author says, As the deer pants for streams of water, my soul pants for You, My God, what is actually saying in that moment, is I am so deeply empty God and crying out for you almost as if I haven't had anything to drink in months, and then see, there is no romanticizing the desperation this individual feels. This is the main thrust of the whole passage itself. I am empty, and I need you. crying out for you verse to My soul thirsts for God, the living God, when can I go and meet with him? My tears have been my food day and nights. While people say to me all day long, where is your God? There's a mocking, even happening in the midst of his desperation. These things I remember as I pour out my soul, how I used to go to the house of God under the production of the Mighty One was shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng. Why my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me. Put your hope in God is telling himself, for I will yet praise him my savior. And My God, My soul is downcast within me. Therefore, I will remember you from the land of Jordan, the heights of Herman and the mount Mazhar Deep calls to deep and the roars of your waterfalls and all of your waves and breakers have swept over me, that's a poetic way of saying, I will remember how great and marvelous and glorious you are in the land that you have called home, this this place of Jerusalem, this place of Zion, this place of beauty, and yet in my life, God, the deep, the waters of underneath seem to be crying out to each other deep calling out too deep. And in that moment, when they burst forth, it feels like you wash over me with destructive waters. Did you see how he said that? And your waves and breakers have swept over me? The author is saying, it seems as if you are just going about your business God and you have left me in the dust. You're washing over me. By day that the Lord directs His love and at night his song is within me, or is with me a prayer to the God of my life. I say to my rock god, my rock verse nine. Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy? My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taught me saying to me all day long. Where is your God? Why my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed. Within me Put your hope in God and for yet, or for I will yet praise him, my Savior, and my God. Psalm 42. You know, one of the most, one of the greatest misconceptions about depression, and anxiety and any real mental illness is that you either have it, or you don't have it. It's an actual misconception, it's not true at all. And the way that it looks it from our perspective from from an average person is that there's no such thing as a as a it's not a paradigm. Let me let me think of the word here. There. There's no such thing as like a as a spectrum, between what depression is and what it's it's not in the way that that looks is that whenever we think about someone who is struggling with depression, the question is,

Do you are you depressed? Or are you not depressed? Right? Like, we want to know, is it a thing? Or is it not a thing?

Are you struggling with depression? Are you not? Are you sticking with things xiety and social anxiety? Are you not? Are you living a life of purpose and you feel like it's worth waking up for and worth doing or not, we have this very strange thing. And especially in the evangelical subculture, what we do is when we don't understand something, we try to make it as clear as possible black and white as possible, because the gray seems awkward enough. And we don't know how to approach it. And so we polarize it, because then we at least know what to do with the two different things. This is literally just what we do with anything in general and depression. And anxiety is actually no different at all, you have the both sides of it. And the reason why we do this is because we can actually at least engage when it seems like there is opposite ends of the spectrum. If someone is not depressed, then we can engage with them, like we like we do. We are friends with them, we spend time with them, we don't feel like we have to walk on eggshells around them, we don't have to worry if we're going to trigger them potentially, we don't like it's not a worry, we can just we can just be with them. Right? This is what we love. This is what we love to participate in. And yet what is so fascinating is that when the pendulum swings, and it doesn't go through the spectrum, but it goes to the complete opposite side of it, and someone is depressed, someone does get diagnosed, someone does have a moment someone does crash and burn whatever it may be. We actually are, are okay with that. Because we're like, Well, I can I can help, right? Let's rally around this person, let's help this give them help, let's let's facilitate care for them. We, we approach it as if it's like, a thing that like, Okay, we gotta go do this. And we got to do this. And we got to do this. And we got to just let's just go around the whole entire circumstance to this weird tendency. And we do this with so much more than just depression, but the Texas depression today. What's so fascinating is that we are utterly terrified slash we have no idea what to do with the middle. We don't know. Because it's society and as a church, and as a culture. We just, we don't know, when the ambiguity of the spectrum starts to show up. Because we because, because we think well, if you're good, you're good. And if you're not good, I'll help you get good. So how it works. That gray, like it comes out, and these are just examples, but the gray shows up when, when that mom has a has a first kid and and her first year is her first year, the kid just cries. Right? And you're just like, Okay, well as a mom, you know, it's like, you're tired and so so, you know, being tired equates to then not really wanting to get up in the morning and it kind of feels like you don't really know what you're doing with your life. And then there's the mom guilt that comes whenever you leave the house and then and then there's the weird mom guilt that comes when when you look at all the other moms fake Instagram posts about how great their life is right? And they actually wear makeup and you're like you just put that on just for that post and I know it. And then a year goes by and their kid is is not crying every day and their kid. They have freedom back and they feel like life is normal. But they're not normal. The gray is like that. Oh, what do you what do we do as a church? Well, we usually just are like, well Like a watch your kid, you know, and well, you're a great mom and we don't know what to do. The gray is when that middle aged individual friend, family member, brother, sister, all of a sudden gets diagnosed with bipolar disease and, and the doctor asks them, Hey, have you ever noticed that your entire life you're either really high or really low, like all the time there's no middle ground. And when you're high, like, you're just like, you're, you're like, adrenaline is jacked. And you're used to sleep three hours a night, and you're just on on on but then when you crash, no one can even get a hold of you for weeks at a time. Oh, yeah, it's really weird. I always just thought it was emotional. No, you're bipolar. And then they don't even know what the next steps are. Because their doctor isn't quite ready to talk to them about medicine yet, and they haven't gone to a treatment center and and that, what do you do with that? As hard. The gray friends is this weird world is this in between, in the descendant like this, this this this struggle that's going on? We don't know what to do. I think I think the most common one, obviously, from statistics is seasonal depression. I think it's so fascinating that almost every single year, there are 1000s, upon 1000s upon 1000s of people, even in our own city that wake up about October 19, and something's wrong. And then they, they don't want to talk about it. And they don't know who to talk about it with. And they kind of feel a little dumb for even feeling it. And they go all I want is summer. And then people rag on him and all we do you why don't why Why don't you love the fall and you're just like, has nothing to do with scars. It has everything to do with moans. It's my own sanity, I wake up and all I want to do is go back to sleep. And I don't know what's wrong with me.

That's a weird world to be in. And what's really beautiful about this passage that we just read

is that it describes that world. I described it in two different ways the author talks about spiritual depression and the spiritual gray that comes with that. And physiological depression. I don't know if you noticed it as I read it. But there are different stanzas. And if you actually had a physical Bible, you'd notice that there are different sections that are kind of orchestrated together. Because these were meant to be sung in rhythm and in song. And what's interesting is that the author is experiencing what every single person in this room if you have a relationship with Jesus in your allegiances to him, we've all experienced some of the things that he describes. It's this, God, I know. I know you're good. And I know you're faithful. But Oh, how I long for you in a way, that almost doesn't seem to make sense. And he never confesses his sins. He never says that he's sinful. He never portrays himself as wrong in the circumstances, because that's usually our default. Right? Like, if I feel some distance between me and God, it's obviously my fault. But he doesn't do that. All he's doing is just saying, I just feel like something's wrong here. And I miss you, God, and I'm doing everything I can to experience you. Why have you forgotten me? Every one of us has had that guy's Jesus had that on the cross. Why have you forsaken me? Oh, God as he was taking the sins of the world upon himself. There's a spiritual depression that takes place. And it's so funny. Like, you may ask yourself the question, why is this text in the Bible? Because if it's only applicable to people who actually deal with depression, I'm not someone who feels depressed but what I just described, you're like, Oh, I felt that before. Yeah. dissonance, the gray it's a real deal thing spiritual depression, if it the other thing that he describes is not spiritual depression, it is physiological depression. This author cries out saying there is something at war within me. God, not warring with you. I'm warring with myself and myself. And I don't know who's gonna win because I don't even think I'm a part of either of the battle. For some reason, and guys, this is like if you struggle with depression, this is I'm describing it to you. The reason why, because I live it. There's a war happening and you feel like a third party person. Where chaos is ensuing? And you're going, how does this stop? And the way that he describes it is why are you so downcast? Oh, my soul. He has the cognitive ability to understand something is wrong at a deeper level than just what his brain is telling him. Something inside of me the depths of my being is downcast why, why are you so downcast? I have dear friends who ask this almost every night. Why is this happening? I do everything that I think I should do. And yet I feel this is physiological depression. The author explains the entire feeling in this text over and over and over again. And in the midst of it, the whole purpose of this song is not merely for you guys to go. Ha, someone gets me, although that is good. That is a good feeling to have. And it's really good to know that other people felt this inspired by God, people felt this. But you still got to ask the question like, What am I to do with this, right? That's where the, the toolbox so to speak, comes into play, the dependency piece comes into play in this psalm the, the author actually gives us three different things we are to do to do to pend on God in the midst of our depression. And I want you to write these down. Not because once you do them, it will fix the problem tomorrow. That's not what this passage said, I don't know what Bible you're reading, but it never ends. He doesn't say put your hope in God. And yet I will praise and my Savior and my god and everything is fixed. That's not how it works. That's not how depression works. That's not how disease works. God can in a moment, intercede and do a miracle. And we pray for that. And we asked for that. We believe in that we have a healing service coming up in two weeks specifically, so we can pray for those things on your behalf. But the reality is, is that tomorrow will come next week will come and you need tools. You need next steps. And so friends here as we go through these three pieces, I want to ask you this, if you have depression, if you have bipolar disorder, if you have anxiety, whatever it may be, do these on a regular basis, even if you don't feel it. And if you are friends and family, if you have a friend and family member who hasn't and this is not your struggle, implement this on their behalf, because they will often forget, be this person to them. First one is this in the midst of your depression, the way that you can depend on God is to remind yourself of what you truly need, not what you think you need but what you truly need. Once you look at verses one and four, again, verse one, As the deer pants, for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, My God, verse for these things I remember, as I pour out my soul, my empty soul that has almost nothing left, here's when I'm going to pour out how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One was shouts of joy and praise among the festive throne. You know, it's one of the hardest things for someone to do when they're in the midst of a dark clouds season. When the hardest struggles for somebody in the midst of depression and anxiety is for them to be reminded of what they actually need in that moment. What they actually need in that season. And, and it's and it's simple because because the author says what I need is you God, they have a very wise perspective what I need right now, the emptiness I feel the brokenness, I feel this, this longing is I truly need you because you're the miracle worker, you're the Savior savior, you're the healer, you're the counselor, you're everything, and I and I need you. But what we're reading is Wisdom literature, we're reading something that someone thought through for a long time, but with the divine inspiration of God behind it, but most of us guys, in the midst of all the stuff going on in our life when we can't see a foot in front of us because the cloud seems so thick. We often assume that what we need is something that revokes the trigger from our life. So so people who struggle with depression, they have triggers. There are certain things that could be the the most obscure thing in the world. They may be something they have no idea about. And what they see what happens is is they they're living their life and they're kind of at a plateau and they're they're doing things they're not high. They're not low, but they're just kind of their, their state of, and they want to be high because they feel like that's where everybody else is. And then they feel bad that they're not high. But they're just here. And what happens is all of a sudden something happens in their life. And that trigger makes them crash. That trigger could be something as simple as coming home to an empty home. And then all of a sudden that triggers in them these lies and these beliefs that I am unworthy, I have no friends, I have no one to be around. No one cares about me, what's the point of my entire life and they just go down to the event to trigger could be as simple for someone with anxiety issues is going to King Soopers. And getting into the aisle where cereal is and where all the people are. And they walk down that aisle. And all of a sudden, there's too many options. And there's too many choices. And then that person walks into the aisle and they look like they're looking at them. And then they start freaking out and they just leave their car and they go home surreal thing. And what happens for people in the midst of that that cloud is is they think what I need is something that remedies the trigger. So if my trigger is walking in home alone, well, then all I need is just a boyfriend or a girlfriend. All I need is a spouse all I need his friends, all I need is children because then it'll fix it. But the reality is, is that it has nothing to do with the trigger. It has everything to do with an actual legitimate disease that you're struggling through. Like it's a real issue. A real thing that needs medical help counseling help, it needs self care help, right. And so what happens is we do this all the time. And whether you struggle with this or not, we all do this, we always assume that if we could just get this thing fixed, my life would be better. The problem is, is it comes in the form of triggers for people who have depression. I have a dear friend of mine had no idea.

She She grew up in Florida, and had a really troubled just kind of home life. And what's interesting is in Florida people don't have like, like the grass in Florida is weird. If you've ever gone to Florida, it's just weird grass. And I didn't know that until I went there and was like his this stuff like it's just like Mosh like there's like this is like I don't even know how to describe it. But anyways, this friend of mine was was in Florida one time. And life was great. And it was going super well. And all the sudden walked along the grass of a house and instantly triggered all of these repressive memories instantly. Now, what's the what's the next step of a trigger like that? Never go to Florida again. No. The next step is to remind that individual, that it is a real emotion, that's a real struggle. That's a real circumstance. That's real pain. And yet what you need is not to be revoked from the situation. But it's to remind yourself of the faithfulness of God, the goodness of God, I love how the texts are the the the passage here that the author says I long for you, God, I need you God. And then what they do is he says, I remember the days when I used to go to the temple, because when I encountered you there, there was joy and praise and goodness. And so what the author even has to do is they go, I have to remind myself that you actually are the only one that is worthy enough for me to worship and only one worthy enough for me to run to in my brokenness. It's so hard, but you so often have to remind yourself that you don't need the other things to cease, you just need more of God. And maybe just maybe in the midst of that. The other things can dissipate for just a moment. So you can take a deep breath to remind yourself of what you truly need. And us as friends and family we need to remind them of what they truly need. I had a story about ramen, I was gonna tell you, but I'll save that for another day. I love ramen. So number two, not only do you remind yourself of what you truly need, but you revoke the critics from your life. You revoke the critics from your life. Look at verses three and then nine through 10 My tears have been my food day and night Why? While people say to me all day long. Where is your God? They're mocking the author. Verse nine. I say to God, my rock Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning oppressed by the enemy my bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taught me saying to me all day long. Where is your God? Friends, I want you to write this down because this is so important. Wherever there is depression, there will always be oppression. Where there wherever there is depression, there will always be oppression, always. Always there is always going to be for somebody that oppressive thing, taunting them, calling out to them. Sometimes it's the Inner Inner Critic, sometimes it's the inner voice telling them they're unworthy. They're uncapable, that there's no point in going on anymore. Sometimes it's that oppression that's taking place. But the saddest thing, more often than not, it's not them. The saddest part is, the oppression often comes from us. The saddest part is that the oppression often comes from the church, the people closest to them, the people closest to you. There are so many people in this world that are that grew up in the church, or they're a part of the Christian church culture today that believe that depression is a sin. Is the author of Psalm 42 sinning right now? Or are they just being honest? Think about that. Was Jesus sitting at the Garden of Gethsemane as he wept? tears of blood? Crying out God, oh, God, please take this cup for me this agony that he feels this dissonance in his own life? No, of course not. And yet, somehow, some way the narrative in our world and in our churches, is that depression is sinful, that we've somehow done something wrong, that we've somehow not appeased the goodness of God, you know what that is? You ever read the story of Job, all this stuff happens to job. And then all of his friends tell him, it's your faults. This is God's judgment on you. The reason why only 20% of people even come out and say that they're struggling and seek help is because they are terrified that if they tell somebody or they tell a friend, or they tell a family member, that individual won't know what to do. And in our because we go it's either on or off in the gray because we don't know what to say or don't know what to do. We say that the just the dumbest things. Like if you keep praying, it will probably go away. Do we tell Do you tell that to somebody who has a tumor? Shouldn't I so often the oppressive Ness can actually be the people you love the most. You care about the most? Friends, you and I could actually be an oppressive voice to somebody without even knowing it. But just by our words, man, how come they can't get over that. We say these things. Man, it's been a while since they've been at church, they're probably just laying in bed. Here, there's probably a reason they probably can't get out of bed. Friends, what? What you need to do if you're struggling in this season, and you're living this dark cloud moment of depression, is that you need to find a way to revoke the power of those words. You need to find a way to to either if you need to distance yourself from those people and from those circumstances. And here's the deal guys. Like I live in a world pastoral leadership world. But there are plenty of pastors who think depression is sinful. And the only answer is the Bible and prayer and they're wrong. You need medical help, you need counseling, you need care, they're wrong. And that means that don't listen to them. Don't engage with them. And if there's someone that's close to your heart, and you love them dearly, help them understand what their words are actually doing to you. Hey, when you say that, that's not helpful. So can we work on this a little bit? Please? I don't even know what I want you to say. So maybe if you could stop saying anything and just hug me that'd be really nice. Please. Story In Exodus chapter 17 is so beautiful. The Israelites are at war with the Amalekites and Josh was leading the army and they're not doing well. And Moses discovers that that if he raises his hands on the hill, the battle actually begins to be won by the Israelites and and and it's this way of interceding and caring for and like he's like petitioning God to help the people. But all of a sudden, he's holding his arms up for a really long time and it's getting really really, really exhausting to keep going. And so Aaron and her come up and they go Hey, bro. Like we know what you're going through. And we know that you need to keep doing this in order for us to win. To see victory. And so let's put a seat under you. So they grab a rock and put it underneath him. And then he's like, Hey, my arms are really tired. And they're not like may well, you should have done more bicep curls before you did this. They didn't do that. Hey, why don't you do a little bit more of the shoulder stuff? Right? No, but we do that sometimes I want you to do so I don't need it, you know? And they go, how about, we just stand right next to you, and we lift your arms up the entire time until the battle is done. So we're gonna do friends. You may have to sit under the arms of someone their whole life.

But that's the call the church. So Jesus did. That is a beautiful burden. And it's a good burden. We need to be those people, friends, not the critics. The third and final thing, this is very, very, very important. You need to read, tell yourself what is true and right, especially when you don't believe it.

retell yourself what is true. And right, I want you to look at verse five. And verse 11. They are the identical statements that the author says twice in one song. Verse five, why my soul? are you downcast? Why? Why so deserved within me? They stops. And he tells himself what is true and right. Put your hope in God. For I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God, verse 11, the exact same thing, why my soul? are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me, put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior, and my God puts your hope in God, one of the greatest temptations that you're going to feel friends, if you struggle with this, is to just destroy yourself with what is not true. You're going to tell yourself over and over and over again, in the midst of your struggle, that you're not worthy. That you're not a good mom, that you're not a good dad, that God's upset with you that you've earned this somehow. Those are all completely untrue things. And what's so amazing is that we just facilitate this the growth of these untruths in our lives. And what we need to do what you have to do, even when you know like you don't want to do it, is you have to say what is actually true in that moment, you have to force your soul to do what is right. To think what is right. This is literally cognitive behavioral therapy. This is what they teach in counseling courses for people do something even if you don't want to. What does that look like? Every day waking up, I am worthy of life because I am an image bearer of God. I am made in the image of my Creator and He delights in me. I am not a failure. I am not wasted space. I am a good mom, I am a good dad, I am a good student. And my God simply loves me, which should be just enough. These are those are true things. This is why Paul tells the church and FSSC says May I remind you of the gospel once again, because he knows that good news always gets forgotten about. Right? This is why when you go on Nine News, it's all junk news. It's all sad stuff. Because we don't ever remember the good stuff and we always just want to be infatuated with bad stuff. The Paul says remind yourself of the good news remind yourself of what is true. Why are you so downcast? Oh, my soul, you know what soul, you don't have a right to be downcast anymore. Because my God is good. And he loves me, and he cares about me. And then you jump into the war a little bit, and you go, Hey, this is gonna stop. And if you combat and if you combined that with people around you and professionals around you, and people that love you and care about you, and you remind yourself that your dependency is on God, all of the sudden, it's not going to be fixed, but all of the sudden, that cloud gets a little less thick. That's all it is. And then tomorrow, again, surround yourself your evoked critics. You hear the truth, you remind yourself that the goodness of God clock gets a little less thick. And then when it comes again, really heavy. You're not lost anymore. You go Okay, here we go. Friends the call of this morning for all of us is to just do that. If you do struggle with depression, and I want to encourage you, maybe you can get up out of your seat during the service and you can come to the front and you can sit and kneel and, and just walk through these three steps with God and and see some progress in your life. Maybe here you have a friend or a family member struggling with this. And maybe you could just ask God to give you a heart to be able to do this with somebody I don't know. But this is the prompting that God wants for us. This is why it's in the Bible, to teach us to give us wisdom beyond our years. And so I just want to challenge you do these things. Revoke the critics. Remind yourself of what you really need and retail yourself truth over and over and over again. Pastor Shana will lead us in giving a communion as well but I'm just going to pray for us. Ask for just the just the Spirit of God to be our great counselor this morning as we worship and then we'll get after the Lord together. So let's pray.